12 step recovery

Menu

Travel Light

A woman was sharing at a meeting about her recent experience at the airport. She had overpacked her bag and was quite over the 50 pound limit. She had to repeatedly remove items from her suitcase until she met the correct weight. Hearing about the experience another member commented about our emotional baggage. As we evolve in the program, we need to make sure that our emotional baggage is well under the allotted limit. To accomplish this we remove resentments from that emotional suitcase. They can take up so much room and really weigh us down. Some of those resentments have been carried around for years. There are resentments which we probably don’t even remember exactly what they were about.
We also need to remove guilt from our emotional suitcase. These are essentially resentments against ourselves. So many of us walk around beating ourselves up for what we should or shouldn’t have done. Engaging in this type of behavior prevents us from living in the now where we could have a lightness to our step. Instead, we are dragged down by remorse.
We also need to be clear about our destination. When we wander aimlessly through life, even relatively “light emotional baggage”, can begin to feel heavy. Meetings and a sponsor can help us with that one.